Leaker-in-Chief

I wanted to write this yesterday, fresh in my head, but yesterday turned into a non-computing day.

The President should resign. He stated over and over and over that he deplored these leaks of classified information to the press, has opened investigations into who leaked the info about the illegal domestic spying program, yet he's the guy who told Scooter Libby to leak the classified Iraq National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). Libby testified to this himself in the grand jury, according to court filings.

In my mind, there is no doubt now that the President or Vice-President or both authorized Libby to leak the name of Valerie Plame. They were furious with Wilson and with Democratic criticism. They threatened Dick Durbin for talking about the same NIE that they leaked, and they were off the wall about Joe Wilson's claims.

The anger they directed was very Nixonian, and manifested itself in similar ways. The leaks are unforgivable, though. You cannot stand on a pedestal and decry leaking while doing it yourself. You cannot say a leak about a criminal action is itself criminal while leaking classified war information. You cannot claim any moral justification that because you are the President, that makes it different somehow. You cannot say with a straight face that your lies are not criminal and harmful to the United States but yet Bill Clinton's lies were, because his lies were under oath.

President George W. Bush, you cannot make these claims. You have been proven to have deliberately lied to the American people, you have abused the power of your office with your illegal spying program, and you have, by your actions, endangered not just the physical security of our nation, but its very foundations. I therefore call on you to resign, and if you do not resign, I call on Congress to open an immediate impeachment inquiry into your actions. This is the last straw. You cannot be trusted with our nation's security any longer, and you must go.

Anger, commence

Since I read this article in the L.A. Times several days ago, I've been meaning to post about it, but hadn't had the time yet. Well, now I have the time, and I'm pissed.

The U.S. Army, after six months ago saying they would reimburse any soldier who spent their own money on body armor, has now outlawed any armor not given by the Army to the soldiers.

Currently, the Army is using Interceptor body armor, armor that by all accounts, has been failing miserably. Many soldiers spent their own money to buy a competing armor, Dragon Skin, which not only is demonstrated in testing to be superior, but is used by the Secret Service protecting the President. One wonders, then, why if it's good enough for the Presidential Detail, why does the Army insist upon calling inferior?

Previous media reports have linked the makers of Interceptor armor to financial stakes of several Pentagon officials. This sudden about-face on the issue makes it seem more likely that the drive to not switch to Dragon Skin when it has been proven to be superior in field testing is motivated by financial gain, a sickening and disturbing motivation.

Furthermore, Dragon Skin provides side armor protection, which the Interceptor armor does not. Just on that alone, the Dragon Skin is the more superior armor, but it also uses more flexible and durable components than the Interceptor, which has been shattering on impact, leaving soldiers who take one shot without protection if shot again.

This administration cares about the troops? Then let them get the same armor the President's bodyguards get, the best one available, not some piece of shit that is lining the pockets of Pentagon officials. Otherwise, the emptyness of the words will just continue to grow.

Are you kidding me?

The definition of terrorism finds new lows, at home and abroad.

Ew.

This man is disgusting. And he worked for DHS, and even used DHS phones in his efforts.

Ironic, considering this piece about DHS' anti-child porn operation. It's so great, but they couldn't catch a pedophile underneath their noses. It was a local sheriff who did it.

Wow, I say. Wow.


Update 2:02 p.m. (via AmericaBLOG and TPM, from the Tampa Tribune): So, apparently, the guy who used to run Operation Predator, the anti-child porn operation, got caught masturbating to a 16-year-old girl last month. Is ANYBODY doing background checks on these people?

Gone for good

The Bugman withers on the election vine and decides to leave rather than get squashed.

While I'm glad to see that Nick Lampson will probably pick up this seat, it deprives Democrats of a high-profile target in the election season. This will be interesting how this affects the dynamics of the election.

Is this worthy of our time?

A special report on the networks to simply announce that Zacarias Moussaoui was eligible for the death penalty does not strike me as important. I'd simply guess they did it because the penalty phase was going so bad for the government. Either way, not a huge deal in my eyes.